I’ve accepted his death as fate, says grieving wife
PORT DICKSON: “I don’t want to blame anyone, including the government, because I have accepted this as fate,” said Shahmiza Salleh yesterday.
The 32-year-old widow of Adnan Othman, one of six firemen killed in a search-and-rescue operation that turned tragic in Puchong, Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday, said she believed that her husband had followed all the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the department.
She also said the incident could not have been foreseen.
“What happened was beyond anyone’s expectation. I have accepted this as God’s will.
“There’s no need to point fingers and I hope everyone will pray that my husband and (the others who) perished in the mission have died as martyrs,” she said at her parents-in-law’s house in Taman Jaya Lukut here.
On Thursday, Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin had demanded that the government conduct an investigation into the tragedy to find out why the six Fire and Rescue Department personnel had carried out the risky mission at night.
“(The operation) was not justified… and it took away six young lives,” he was quoted as saying.
In the 9pm incident, the members of the Selangor Water Rescue Team drowned while attempting to locate a missing teenager in a disused mining pool in Taman Putra Perdana, Puchong. Four of the firemen were from the Port Klang Fire and Rescue Department — Mohd Fatah Hashim, 34; Izatul Akma Wan Ibrahim, 32; Mazlan Omarbaki, 25; and, Yahya Ali, 24. Two others were from the Shah Alam fire station — Adnan Othman, 33; and Muhammad Hifdzul Malik Shaari, 25.